Ben Affleck has riled fans for ‘blaming’ ex-wife Jennifer Garner for his drinking problem while they were together.
In an interview with The Howard Stern Show, the Argo actor claimed “part of why” he turned to booze was because he felt “trapped” in their decade long marriage.
He said: “We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens. It was somebody I love and respect but to whom I shouldn’t be married any longer.
“I was like ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?’ And what I did was drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Had Ben and Jennifer not separated in 2015, the two-time Oscar winner confessed he would “probably still be drinking”.
But Ben’s public comments about his ex – who is the mother of his three children – haven’t gone down well with fans.
One Twitter user fumed: “Hey, Ben Affleck, you were drinking to excess way before you married Jennifer Garner, so how about not being a d***head to the mother of your children? Or shifting blame.”
Another wrote: “Ben Affleck blaming his wife for his drinking problem tells me everything I need to know about him. JLo, you’ve got yourself a real catch there. Once a d***head, always a d***head.”
A third raged: “Who knew that Ben Affleck was such a s**** human being. My goodness!”
While a fourth chimed in: “Do me a favour, grab Ben Affleck and kindly throw him under a bus. Has Jennifer Garner not suffered enough with his appalling behaviour? She has shown nothing but dignity while he has behaved like a horny teenager.”
Others pointed out that is was Jennifer Garner who drove Ben to rehab in 2018 after he hit rock bottom - three years after they had separated.
“Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner split up in 2015 and she was seen driving him to rehab in 2018. Don’t blame it on her,” one fan said.
“Ben Affleck: I would’ve ‘still’ been drinking if I stayed married to Jennifer Garner. Jennifer Garner: Helps him to rehab 3 full years after they’ve already separated,” a second commented.
Another joked: “Does Ben Affleck blame Jennifer Garner for his hideous back tattoo as well?”
While one social media user simply said: “Shame on Ben Affleck. Shame. Shame. Shame.”
However, some fans sympathised with Ben and praised him for his honesty in the interview.
One said: “Ben Affleck was drinking because he was unhappy. That’s not a dig at Jennifer Garner, it’s his truth. He was in an unhappy marriage. I have a lot of respect for him addressing his alcoholism and speaking openly about it.”
Reacting to criticism of Ben, another hit back about their split: “It was amicable. They were both not happy. Calm down.”
The Good Will Hunting star said the thing that stopped him drinking in the end was his kids – daughters Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and nine-year-old son Samuel.
He told Howard Stern: “The cure for addiction is suffering. You suffer enough before something inside you goes ‘That’s enough’.
“I’m lucky that I hit that point before I lost the things that were most important. Not my career or money, it was my relationship with my kids.”
Now the actor is sober and divorced he says he has “not wanted to drink once”. The 49-year-old has recently rekindled his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, who he was engaged to back in 2004.
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